Outcome of Clumsiness (previous thread)

[Deux Ruches]

After my clumsy attempt at marking a queen a couple of weeks ago, I followed admin's advice and waited a week before checking if she had survived the ordeal, and I found her on the second frame and she seemed to be OK. Before I could complete the inspection the weather changed suddenly, so I closed down the hive quickly. Today, a few days after, I have had a good look and could not find the queen, there is sealed brood, Drone brood, 1 sealed QC, 2 QC with larve, no worker eggs or larve to be seen anywhere, and the rest of the frames full of necter/honey.
After closing up the hive my inital reaction is, if they're superceeding, let them continue to resolve the problem, but would appreciate thoughts and opinions on the situation.
My No 2 hive was bursting with bees and honey, with very little room left so put on QX and 1st super today.
Nick.

 

[thurrock bees]

Hi if you are going to allow them to superceed the old queen ( me thinks she has gone, as there is no eggs) keep one Q cell and destory the rest as they MAY swarm then they hatch.
TB

 

[ENZO]

Swarmed Maybe? are there the same amount of bees? Probably best to leave for a week or so and see if the virgin queen has emerged from her cell then leave alone a couple of weeks to see if she has mated/laying, at least you might get a new queen out of it. On the other hand you could buy a queen if one is available but I would put a frame with some eggs in first, just to make sure the queen is really not there.

If you see the number of bees getting low, it always worth putting in a frame of emerging brood from your strong hive as small colonies take a long time to recover and become honey producers

All Good Fun, Good Luck, Enzo

 

[oliver90owner]

I never hunt for the queen unless I need to find her for a reason. I check that she was there less than 3 days ago by checking for eggs. Usually one will easily find them near to the smallest larvae which were eggs just a day or so ago, unless she has just filled a small patch for some reason. End of job.

We would need to know a bit more about your queen and colony.

Was she a swarmed queen? They rarely swarm twice and they may well be superceding prior to swarming.

Was the hive laying-space restricted? They could be swarming and she could have already left (sealed Q/Cell). She would be slimmed down before a swarm issued and would have stopped laying prior to leaving.

Where on the comb were the queen cells? High up on the face - possibly superceding; low down or at the bottom of the frame, more likely swarm cells. They do not always make a lot of queen cells, so one can not be sure.

Are there drones present and for how long? Most colonies brood drones before they swarm; they are generally hatching before the colony swarms, If a queen is lost it will be emergency cells, but likely quite a few, unless she went off-lay before being lost - unusual but one can never be sure.

My thoughts are they have already gone. Beware re your other colony.

Regards, RAB

 

[MuswellMetro]

there is sealed brood, Drone brood, 1 sealed QC, 2 QC with larve, no worker eggs or larve to be seen anywhere, and the rest of the frames full of necter/honey.
After closing up the hive my inital reaction is, if they're superceeding, let them continue to resolve the problem,
Nick.

i think you damaged the queen and the first caped cell will be a scrub queen, break it down and use the two uncapped cells, they will be younger larva and have fed more on roysl jelly

then Hope she mates BUT as you have drone brood...they could all be boys !!!!!

 

[Deux Ruches]

Hi All.
ENZO, Yes, the same amount of bees, bubbling over, all frames covered. I don't think they've swarmed.
RAB, I agree, normally I don't search for the queen, I'm content to just see continual evolution of the colony, but I needed to see if she was still there after I thought that I had damaged her when marking a couple of weeks ago.
MUSWELL METRO, I think you may be right, and today I've destroyed the QC's andput in a frame of eggs/brood from the other hive, and will leave them to it. Hears hoping.
TRhanks for all your comments
Nick.